Robert Penn Warren's classic novel chronicles the rise and fall of a Southern politician of the 1930s who resembles the real-life demagogue Huey Long. The populism of the protagonist gradually becomes corrupted by his ambition, but he never completely loses his desire to serve the common people. The conflict between ambition and duty has rarely been portrayed so effectively.This edition of the novel restores cuts that were made in the original edition, adding nearly 100 pages of censored, deleted, or simply changed material.